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Alexander Blackhaven
Leader of the Manticore Gang, Head of the Blackhaven Trading Company Age: 34 Affiliations: Blackhaven Trading Company, Manticore Gang Description Broad shouldered and of middling height, Alexander Blackhaven strikes an imposing profile. Though graced with an aquiline nose from a violent beating years ago, he carries far fewer scars than a man in his business deserves. While his close cropped black hair is flecked with the first hints of grey, he shows no other sign of age. Indeed, his only noticeable wrinkles are the disarming smile lines clearly visible on his clean-shaven face. However, this benevolent exterior is betrayed by his cold eyes and their unnatural maroon color. Those eyes turn even a smile into a threat. While he conducts his business in the squalor of the harbor, Blackhaven takes care to dress above his station. He is rarely seen without his fine black greatcoat, and has used his front as a textiles merchant to acquire far more extravagant clothing than his rival gang leaders. One might think that would make Blackhaven a target, but his brutal methods and vengeful spirit force any common thief to think twice before trying to rob him. Personality Blackhaven is a man of vision, though what that vision is only he can say. What is clear to everyone who knows him is that to get in the way of that vision is extremely unwise. Though he maintains a calm facade, beneath the surface Blackhaven is a cauldron of anger ready to boil over at the merest slight. However, he has enough control to restrain himself from blind fury - Blackhaven's vengeance is more calculated, and can wait months or even years before bearing fruit. It should be unsurprising, then, that Blackhaven's most common relationships are those of fear. Though he takes good care of his own men, his orders and actions hammer home how unwise it would be to betray him. There are few he trusts at all, and none he trusts completely, though his lieutenants in Manticore come close. When dealing with those of his own class, Blackhaven can veer from imperious to pleasant on a whim, often in response to a person's perceived value. However, when dealing with those in power, whether the captain of the harbor Guard or nobles from the city proper, he moderates himself considerably. He has plans, after all, and one cannot pursue plans from behind bars or beneath a shallow grave. History Nothing is known of Alexander Blackhaven before his arrival in the city five years ago. There is a good reason for that - Alexander Blackhaven didn't exist before then. The man who would become Alexander Blackhaven spent his early adulthood as a soldier, fighting and bleeding on the whims of distant nobles for land that was worthless beyond the prestige of claiming it. While he may have been a good man once, those years of war stripped his goodness away. But not without leaving something in return. On the brink of death a world away from the village where he was born, the man who would become Blackhaven discovered his rare and terrifying Gift - the ability to see the future. It was a vague thing, more shadow and echo than true clairvoyance, but it communicated one thing with utmost clarity. If he remained a soldier, he would be dead before his twenty-fifth birthday. So the man who would be Blackhaven deserted, abandoning his life and his name to wander the fringes of society. His experience in war made his a desirable stranger for all manner of illicit enterprises, and his secret Gift kept him from accepting the jobs that got people killed. Eventually, he found himself in Azhahad, the center of the world (or so the stories went). There, in a city overflowing with immigrants and transients, the man saw an opportunity unlike any before. A sprawling web of corruption and crime, with himself the spider at its center. Without a second thought, and with an assumed name, Alexander Blackhaven set up shop in the slums of the harbor and began to weave. It is not difficult to carve out territory in Azhahad's Harbor district. Unlike the more civilized Crater or Market districts, the criminals of the harbor scurry between leaders like blind rats. It is rare for any one gang to last a year, yet Blackhaven's gang did. Gathering together the dispossessed remnants of a recent gang war, he proved his value as a leader by predicting where the next stroke would fall, and ambushing the would-be conquerors with steel. His military experience, coupled with his gift, gave the newly christened Manticore Gang a level of organization beyond the ken of their immediate competitors. Like clockwork, the local garrison was bribed to look the other way as the Manticores began extorting the businesses surrounding Blackhaven's textiles shop, running graft for a neighborhood that was just grateful for some peace. Yet Blackhaven's success has attracted the attention of the districts other longstanding gangs, and a war is brewing on the horizon. Advantages *Followers 1 The Manticore Gang, while no larger than the average harbor gang, is considerably more disciplined than the average cutthroat. Blackhave rarely travels without a few goons to back up his threats, and even when he's not expecting trouble a few of his boys are usually nearby. *Charisma 1 Maybe it is the icy calm demeanor, or perhaps the alien quality of his eyes, but something about Blackhaven is extremely compelling. He has little trouble convincing people to help him, even less when they know his reputation. *Strength 1 A result of his time in the military and jobs gone bad, Blackhaven is remarkably strong for a man his age. *Precognition 1 A Gift unlocked on the brink of death, Blackhaven catches snippets of the future in his uncanny eyes. Most of the time, these are vague portents that help guide him in a broad sense, but with focus he can hone the sense to a clear picture of the coming moments. While this is not much of a boon in general, in combat it is incomparable. * Swordsman 1 Thanks to his military service, Blackhaven remains an expert swordsman.